Star Spangled Blues (2006) is a contemplative and moving look at why we fight war. Narrated by Iranian-American Gita Saedi, the film uses archival materials, memoir and music to weave together Gita’s story of a once pacifist cousin serving in Iran, the rise and fall of two empires that span centuries, and hope as seen in her son and the next generation. The film is all the more startling when you take into consideration the fact that it was written, shot and edited in just five days.

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Former POVer Ruiyan Xu worked on developing and producing materials for POV's website. Before coming to POV, she worked in the Interactive and Broadband department at Channel Thirteen/WNET. Ruiyan was born in Shanghai and graduated from Brown University with a B.A. in Modern Culture and Media.